Users’ requests for visits must pass through all three layers to be allowed. If they don’t, access is denied.

The Three Layers

Custom Categories (First Layer). Custom categories supplement the standard categories. This enables you to better identify and control your users’ Web activity. For example, you can create a custom category to:

Serve as a white list that contains all sites to which visits are allowed (while blocking all others).

Track and possibly block access to standard sites that are not in the Wavecrest URL List but are of special local interest or concern.

Serve as a black list that contains all sites to be blocked (while allowing access to all others).

The Wavecrest URL List (Second Layer). To accurately identify and categorize the vast majority of visits, Wavecrest products use a large, mature categorization control list. This control list consists of 70+ standard content-identification categories that Wavecrest populates and updates daily with URLs from around the world. Examples of standard categories include Shopping, News, Entertainment, Sports, Social Networking, Financial, and Pornography.

Note: Wavecrest developed the list more than ten years ago and has continuously enlarged and improved it ever since. Moreover, the list is used in conjunction with a similarly mature and proven categorization process. Wavecrest updates and makes the list available on a daily basis. During initial product/policy setup, customers specify which users or groups of users should be denied access to which categories.

Deep Packet Analysis (Third Layer). Using real-time deep packet analysis, the product can determine if the content of a URL is Flash, video streaming, audio streaming, images, Active X, and more. Any or all of these could be considered inappropriate. These can be blocked and customers can add their own extensions to be blocked.

Deep Packet Analysis (the “Third Layer”). Using real-time 'deep packet analysis,' the product determines if the content is IM, e-mail, P2P, BitTorrent, Flash, video or audio streaming, images and more. Any or all of these could be considered “inappropriate.” These can be blocked and customers can add their own extensions to be blocked.

The Blocking Process

The blocking process works as follows:

Customers determine which types of traffic are inappropriate and thus prohibited.

Users’ URL requests flow through all three layers.

When a request matches any one of the prohibited types of traffic, the CyBlock product automatically blocks access to it.

The product responds with a configurable blocking message. For example, it can be used to point to your own blocking policy.

Additional Information

Latency. An inline technique such as CyBlock’s RealTimePlus is the most effective way to filter Web use. However, by its very nature, an inline filter can introduce a certain amount of latency in performance. Wavecrest designed CyBlock with this potential in mind, and when the product is used in conjunction with our minimum recommended requirements for memory allocation and computer speed, the latency should be invisible.

"CyBlock has helped my company improve productivity from our personnel by 60% since we implemented it's use within our network. This has been an invaluable tool that I'd recommend to anyone in need of filtering and blocking technology!